Sitting in a bar brooding over his failing marriage, Scott Henderson ( Alan Curtis ) picks up a woman (Ann Terry) at a bar one night to just kill time. They catch a stage show then separate without ever exchanging names. Returning home he finds his wife strangled and a trio of skeptical detectives not buying his story. With the mysterious woman his only alibi he and the gumshoes retrace the night before with Henderson. Since the woman was wearing a flamboyant hat Curtis feels the bartender, cab driver and the Carmen Miranda (her sister Aurora) look alike performer who wore the same hat in her show will identify the woman and support his alibi but the witnesses uniformly deny ever seeing her. Henderson is quickly tried and sentenced to be executed. Only his faithful secretary Carol Richman (Ella Raines) aka Kansas believes in his innocence as she doggedly pursues witnesses to come clean.
Phantom Lady is a triumph of form over content. The far-fetched storyline is highly implausible but under the masterful direction of Robert Siodmak and cameraman Woody Bredell it rises above its material like the express elevator at the Empire State. Injecting menace and suspense in scene after scene as he puts Kansas in harm's way Siodmak presents us with some of the finest canvases in the noir canon along with some jarring editing and excellent audio to buttress the absorbing nightmarish world where nothing is certain.
Siodmak is further hampered by the leads who are pedestrian at best but Raines does have a bewitching fatale look and toughness about her that sustains interest as she gets herself into one predicament after another. A supporting cast of cynical cops and callous witnesses, especially Elisha Cooke Jr. as a real gone drummer also provides Phantom Lady with an ideal demographic of the noir world and with Siodmak at the helm you could not have a better guide.
Phantom Lady is a triumph of form over content. The far-fetched storyline is highly implausible but under the masterful direction of Robert Siodmak and cameraman Woody Bredell it rises above its material like the express elevator at the Empire State. Injecting menace and suspense in scene after scene as he puts Kansas in harm's way Siodmak presents us with some of the finest canvases in the noir canon along with some jarring editing and excellent audio to buttress the absorbing nightmarish world where nothing is certain.
Siodmak is further hampered by the leads who are pedestrian at best but Raines does have a bewitching fatale look and toughness about her that sustains interest as she gets herself into one predicament after another. A supporting cast of cynical cops and callous witnesses, especially Elisha Cooke Jr. as a real gone drummer also provides Phantom Lady with an ideal demographic of the noir world and with Siodmak at the helm you could not have a better guide.